Year-long fence flap ends with expert opinion

PORTSMOUTH — After more than a year of debate about the historic significance of a fence removed from the front of a South End home, the Historic District Commission reversed course Wednesday by voting to allow the property to remain fenceless.

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By Elizabeth Dinan

seacoastonline.com

By Elizabeth Dinan

Posted Feb. 14, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Elizabeth Dinan
Posted Feb. 14, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

PORTSMOUTH — After more than a year of debate about the historic significance of a fence removed from the front of a South End home, the Historic District Commission reversed course Wednesday by voting to allow the property to remain fenceless.

The long-running fence flap pertains to a 32 Livermore St. property listed on the National Register of Historic Places and owned by the General Porter Condominium Association. The controversial fence is described in a listing on the National Register as a "Colonial Revival fence with turned wood vases on three of its five wood paneled posts."

The fence was removed during renovations to the property which have been described as museum quality and, in one instance, involved replicating an antique tool for stone cutting. Attorney Jim Noucas, representing the property owners, appeared before the HDC Wednesday night and said the fence was in poor condition and part of it fell over when someone leaned on it. The rest of the fence was removed after that portion toppled, he said.

Noucas also presented the HDC with a letter written by Richard Candee, author of "Building Portsmouth," president of the Portsmouth Historical Society and co-author of the nomination application that led to the property being listed on the National Registry.

"It has come to my attention that those preferring the wooden colonial revival style fence for the 18th century Livermore House on Livermore Street have made much of an indication of its existence in the National Register nomination," Candee wrote. "This is a misuse of the National Register of Historic Places."

Candee's letter states the mention of the fence in the application appears only as part of a description of the property and "no value is implied by that descriptor." He wrote the fence was not mentioned in a section of the application where items of "significance" are cited, because the debated fence was a 1980s reproduction of a fence built in the 1930s.

Commissioner Richard Katz said at Wednesday's meeting that "not taking the Candee letter to heart is just putting our fingers in our ears and going 'la, la, la, la, la.'" Commissioner William Gladhill said there's no evidence that the fence existed before the 1930s and because of that he did not oppose the lack of a fence at the property. HDC Chairman Joseph Almeida said the loss of the fence would be "a great loss," while noting renovations at the home will ensure the historic property remains "for another 200 years."

Almeida voted against allowing the fence to remain absent, as did Commissioner Dan Rawling, but a majority of the HDC voted to approve that request. During prior HDC meetings, the commission gave approval for other improvements at the property, but contingent upon replicating the fence.

In November 2012, the HDC denied a request for the wood fence to be replaced with a metal one designed and forged by local blacksmith Peter Hapney. In a written denial, the HDC noted a wood fence was there in 1898 and that "a decorative wood fence is more appropriate for the historic character of Livermore Street."

When the Hapney fence was denied, Almeida referred to the 40-page nomination form, completed in 1984 for the property to be listed on the National Register. Almeida said the form "actually calls out the fence as a contributing feature." In a subsequent application to the HDC, calling for no fence in front of the historic home, a photo purporting to be from 1898 shows the building with no fence in front of it.